National Roundup

New York
Journalist off air following claims of harassment
NEW YORK (AP) — MSNBC says journalist Mark Halperin has been suspended from his role as network contributor following charges from five women who claimed he sexually harassed them while he was an ABC News executive.

The network said Thursday it found Halperin’s conduct as described in a CNN story “very troubling” and that the veteran political reporter will be off the air until questions about his past are fully understood.
Halperin has apologized for what he termed inappropriate behavior.

The co-author of the best-selling book “Game Change” told CNN Wednesday night that he’s “deeply sorry” and is taking a “step back” from day-to-day work to deal with the situation.

His statement came after CNN reported allegations that Halperin propositioned, fondled and pushed himself against five women in the early 2000s while he was ABC News’ political director.

The women, who asked to remain anonymous, said they didn’t report Halperin’s conduct because they feared retribution or were embarrassed.

Halperin says he pursued relationships, sometimes with junior co-workers, but CNN says he denies the groping allegations.

On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Thursday, co-host Mika Brzezinski informed viewers about Halperin. He has been a frequent panelist on the show.

“We’re going to be following this story as it develops,” she said. “I’m sure we’ll be talking about it again when we know more about it.”

Maryland
Officer testifies about protecting heroin dealer
BALTIMORE (AP) — A disgraced Baltimore detective told jurors how he ran interference for a childhood friend who dealt heroin.

Momodu Gondo and another ex-officer, Jemell Rayam, took the stand as key witnesses Wednesday at the federal trial of four men accused of running a heroin ring that became a major supplier throughout suburban Baltimore.

Gondo and Rayam were members of an elite police unit, the Gun Trace Task Force, that was riddled with corruption. Both have pleaded guilty to their own roles in the conspiracy, admitting that they robbed rival drug dealers of more than $100,000, and protected their friends in the drug-running ring.

The Baltimore Sun reports Gondo testified that one of the defendants was his best friend going back to childhood and that he tipped him off to police activities.


Kansas
Black firefighter in discrimination lawsuit awarded over $350K
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A black Kansas City firefighter who alleged he wasn’t promoted because of his race has been awarded more than $350,000 in compensatory damages.

The Kansas City Star reports that jurors ordered the payout Wednesday for firetruck driver Tarshish Jones. When he sued in 2015, he had been employed by the Kansas City Fire Department for 17 years and had been eligible for captain for 12 of those years. He took the captain’s test five times and scored high on objective testing. But the suit said he was “marked down in his verbal testing because he is African-American.”

The suit says white officers with less experience and lower written scores have been promoted. Jones still hasn’t.

City spokesman Chris Hernandez declined to comment because of the possibility of an appeal.

Massachusetts
New light shed on mental state of man accused of killing 4
GROTON, Mass. (AP) — Newly released documents are shedding light on the state of mind of a recent college graduate accused of fatally beating his mother, grandparents and their caretaker with a baseball bat in Massachusetts.

The Boston Globe reports the mother of 22-year-old Orion Krause called 911 on Sept. 7 worried that he was suicidal after he abruptly left their home in Rockport, Maine.

Documents provided to The Portland Press Herald show a woman called police the next day to report a call her husband had received from Krause, a former student of his at Oberlin College in Ohio. The woman says Krause told her husband, “I think I have to kill my mom.”

Police discovered the bodies of the four people that evening in Groton, Massachusetts.

Krause has pleaded not guilty.

Delaware
Man charged with hate crime for threats to neighbor
DELAWARE CITY, Del. (AP) — Police charged a Delaware man with a hate crime after he allegedly told authorities he was considering throwing Molotov cocktails at the home of neighbors he believed were Muslim.

The News Journal in Wilmington reports Gerard Medvec, 64, of Delaware City, had been spying on his neighbors with binoculars and told authorities he would “take the fight to them” by firebombing their house.
The neighbors were not Muslim.

Court documents indicate Delaware City’s police chief met with Medvec back on Oct. 5 to answer Medvec’s concerns about Muslims entering the U.S. At that meeting Medvec mentioned he had a concealed carry permit and was willing to defend himself and the country.

Then, on Oct. 14, Medvec called 911 and said there had been a threat on his life. Authorities responded to that call and noticed the binoculars. Medvec said he used the binoculars to watch his neighbors. He said what drew his attention was “a black male wearing a ‘Muslim hat’ underneath a baseball hat.”

On Oct. 17, a psychiatric social worker visited the home along with police. Officers said they saw two semi-automatic rifles in the home, and noticed Medvec had a pistol in his waistband. Medvec agreed to accompany the officers to the police station. It was there he told social workers about firebombing the house in order to “take the fight to them,” according to the court documents.

The documents indicated he also made a comment about going into the house and “start shooting.”

Medvec was arrested Friday. After consultation with the state attorney general’s office, he was charged with terroristic threatening in association with a hate crime. A magistrate released him on $4,000 bond after ordering him to give up his firearms.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group, applauded the hate crime charge as an indication that authorities were taking the issue seriously.

It wasn’t immediately known if Medvec had a lawyer.